Lexmark T64X -- Config Menu

Much of what's in the Config Menu is of little, if any, use. The few useful items below are headed in bold.

To invoke the Config Menu, press and hold the 'check mark' and 'right arrow' keys while powering on the printer. You can let go of the keys as soon as you see dots begin to crawl across the display. Following are the items in the menu.

1) Maint Cnt Value

• Displays the accumulated page count since the last time the maintenance counter was reset. This count is what the machine uses to determine when to display the '80 Scheduled Maintenance' message. (Maintenance interval is 300,000 pages.) Resetting the maintenance count (following item) clears the '80...' message.

2) Reset Maint Cnt

• When selected, the maintenance count gets reset to zero. The maintenance count can be reset at any time.

3) Prt Quality Pgs

• Prints four pages: a page of printer information, a greyscale page, a solid black page and a blank page.
• WARNING: The solid black page can adhere to a fuser's coated roller and jam. The 'Prt Quality Pgs' are really not useful. We advise they be avoided.

4) Size Sensing

• Allows you to disable the auto size sensing feature for the paper tray(s). This can be helpful if you encounter a machine that's exhibiting flaky size sensing. See this post for more information.

5) Panel Menus

• Allows you to disable/enable a user's access to the menus. When disabled, pressing the 'Menu' key brings up the message, 'Menus are Disabled'.

6) PPDS Emulation

• 'PPDS' stands for 'Personal Printer Data Stream', an early IBM printer command language. (It was originally called 'IBM ASCII'.) You're unlikely to ever encounter a site where it's used. If this emulation were enabled where it's not in use, the printer would likely print gibberish, if it printed at all.

7) Demo Mode

• Useless, really. When Demo Mode is activated, all the machine will do is print a demo page; it won't go on-line, and the Menu key is disabled.

8) Factory Defaults

• On a network-ready machine, you'll get the option to 'Restore Base' or 'Restore Network'
  

• Restores all the pertinent menu settings to their factory defaults.

9) Energy Conserve

• Allows you to enable disabling of the Power Saver feature. [I know that sounds odd, but that's what it does.] Power Saver is an item in the user's Setup Menu. (Select 'Settings' from the Main Menu to get to it.) When Energy Conserve is 'on', Power Saver can't be disabled, it can only be adjusted for delay time. When Energy Conserve is 'off', Power Saver can be disabled, as well as adjusted for delay time.

10) Event Log

• Allows you only to print an abbreviated version of the event log.

11) Paper Prompts

• Allows you to alter the machine's reporting of out-of-paper conditions. The settings are 'Auto', 'MP Feeder' and 'Manual Paper'. I've never had need of this.
  

12) Env Prompts

• Allows you to alter the machine's reporting of out-of-envelope conditions. The settings are 'Auto', 'MP Feeder' and 'Manual Env'. I've never had need of this.
  

13) Jobs on Disk

• Only shows up if the printer has a hard drive. Allows you to delete jobs stored on the drive. This might be useful in the event that a hard drive got loaded up with garbage that needed to be purged.
  

14) Disk Encryption

• Only shows up if the printer has a hard drive. Allows you to enable or disable encryption.
• WARNING: Changing the setting wipes the drive.

15) Font Sharpening

• I've read the entry on this in the service manual, and I'm still mystified. I strongly suspect that whoever wrote the entry in the service manual is equally mystified.^[1] It sounds like it has something to with adjusting print quality. I've never needed to look into it.

16) Wiper Message

• Allows you to enable or disable the wiper message. I cannot find an explanation of what governs appearance of the wiper message.

17) Exit Config Menu

• Does an orderly exit and returns the machine to 'Ready'.

* * *

Note [1]: Here's the service manual's complete entry on 'Font Sharpening':

"This setting allows a user to set a text point size below which the high frequency screens are used when printing font data. For example, at the default 24, all text in font sizes 24 and less will use the high frequency screens. The values for this setting range from 0 to 150, and the default value is 24. This setting affects Post Script, PCL, and XL.

To change the value, select Font Sharpening from the CONFIG MENU, and use [left arrow] to decrease the value and [right arrow] to increase the value. [Check mark] to accept the value."

- - -

I'm pretty certain that the 'technical writer' who wrote that hadn't a clue what they were on about, but they had to write something about Font Sharpening, so they did.

Whenever you see a term like 'high frequency screens' tossed out with no word of explanation, as if the term were as common and broadly understood as the word 'table' or 'chair', you know you're reading hogwash. Service manuals are riddled with that sort of tripe. 'Studying' such nonsense is a waste of time. I'll refrain from getting going on codswallop like PDI+ Certification.

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